


Pietro's Fire

by Dlg



Category: Avengers: Age of Ultron - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Fluff, Human Experimentation, Minor Character Death, Psychological Trauma, Romance, Some angst, Torture, i don't know how to tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-02
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-18 23:56:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7336333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dlg/pseuds/Dlg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katerina Blunt was taken by Hydra after an earthquake and experimented on. For five years she is traumatized until she is rescued by two unlikely heroes.</p><p>Original version on Quotev</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Earthquakes and Doctor List

I screamed as the building shook and tilted. Remembering what Mum said I ran into my room and wrapped myself in my blankets. Squeezing my eyes shut. There was a large bang from somewhere nearby and I felt the building tilt again. I tried my hardest to shut out the screaming and shouting as I tried to force myself to sleep. Somehow it must have worked because when I finally opened my eyes everything was different. The first thing I noticed was that the roof was gone and the sky was dark and chocked with smoke. The second thing was that the top of my legs hurt, the bottom half were numb and I could feel something dripping off them. I tried sitting up so I could see my legs but a massive stabbing pain shot through my leg. Carefully I looked down, bracing myself for what I might see, a steel bar been forced through my leg by a huge chunk of concrete that had previously been part of the roof. I didn’t know if my legs were broken or not but I knew I would be moving without any help. Trying not to panic I screamed for the help I desperately needed. Dad had once told me that the human body could survive for seven days without food and three days without water. I didn’t know how long I had been asleep for but I doubted that I could last for three days in my condition. Once the smoke cleared I shouted for help the counted to twenty before shouting again. I repeated this process countless times until my voice gave out and I slept.

This time when I woke up I was in a clean white room and laid out on a firm narrow bed with crisp, pale grey sheets. I moved my legs and only felt dull pain. I cautiously sat up and looked around. The room had no windows and only one door that was shut, aside from my bed there's was nothing in the room. Suddenly I realized that I wasn’t wearing my clothes but a paper thin, white gown instead. Just as I was debating whether to stand up or not the door opened to reveal a middle-aged man in a white coat, flanked by two younger men in uniform to the kind soldiers wore.  
“Katherine Blunt, how are you feeling today?” The man asked calmly, walking towards my bed. How did he know my name? I thought very carefully about my answer, hospitals in Sokovia weren’t this good and wouldn’t my parents be here? He spoke good English, though he had an accent I did not recognize  
“I’ve been better” I replied quietly.  
“That is to be expected” He remarked, obviously trying to be sympathetic. The two solider-like men moved away from the door and let a man in his late twenties who was pushing a covered trolley through the door. He pushed the trolley over to the man in the lab coat who was taking a pair of glasses from his coat pocket. “I am Doctor List” He said introducing himself. Then the younger man took the sheet covering the trolley off and I saw the numerous needles filled with different colored liquids. Then I noticed among the needles was a small see-through cup, half full of multicolored liquid, strangely the colors moved. I didn’t like it, why did the colors move? Panic and anxiety set in, why weren’t my parents here? Where were they? Did they know where I was? I wanted my parents!

My body must have tensed because the doctor reached out to pat my shoulder and said “These are to help speed your recovery”. Though his words were supposed to be reassuring, his tone wasn’t. Why couldn’t I go home, wasn’t I well enough? Doctor List picked up a needle and injected the contents in my arm. Wasn’t he supposed to sanitize the area first, I thought. I winced as the needle went in and stiffed a gasp with difficultly when he pressed the plunger down. As he repeated the process with the next needle I noticed that my body had began to tingle unpleasantly. “Please stop. It hurts” I asked plaintively. It was if I hadn’t said a word, he just kept going until all the needles were empty. My vision was becoming blurry and quickly I felt the tingling become painful. Soon I was moving restlessly, but Doctor List didn’t seem concerned about this, in fact he almost seemed pleased by the outcome. “What was in those needles?” I asked, my voice croaking. “Just some chemicals” He replied nonchalantly. Then he grabbed the see-through cup and poured the contents down my throat. I was too weak to protest or resist, so I couldn’t do anything but swallow when I was told to do so. Once soon after I had swallowed the pain changed slightly, instead of the ex-curating tingling my body was becoming painfully hot. I could sweat forming on my forehead. My hands began trembling which soon traveled to the rest of my body. I hadn’t noticed before that the man who had brought the trolley was writing in a small notebook. The pain increased and pressure inside my head began to build, black dots now clouding my vision. Before long I felt myself be dragged into the darkness of a pain-filled sleep.

The time I woke up I was in the same room. Soon after I woke up a man came with food. Like the others he was dressed similar to a soldier, but I noticed that he had a pistol clipped on his belt. He was carrying the food on a steel tray. I could see from here that my meal consisted of some bread spread thinly with butter, a cup of juice and a couple of slices of meat. He sat the tray on the foot of my bed and left. As soon as I was sure he was gone I grabbed the tray, there was little sign of the pain from last night except I felt shaky. I immediately began eating, I hadn’t realized how absolutely hungry I was, when had I last eaten? Almost just after I was done Doctor List came in, smiling strangely. When his gaze landed on me and the empty tray his smile widened but it made my stomach crawl.  
“Ah, you have eaten, a healthy appetite is always a good sign” He commented happily. Then I saw another man in uniform rolled in another needle filled trolley. There was no cup full of the multicolored liquid, I took some comfort in that. Then the man pushing the trolley came over and produced a leather strap that he used to secure my forearm. What was he doing that for? I felt myself tense immediately and I know that the doctor saw it. “Now, now Miss Blunt; these are going to help you” He said, obviously trying to reassure me but I didn’t trust him, not after last time. Before I could protest he injected me with a needle filled with a red liquid. This one made me scream as soon as it entered my body Once the contents of the needle were gone he picked up another needle, the liquid of this one was clear, and injected me again as if he wasn’t putting someone through horrible pain.

He ignored me as I begged, pleaded for him to stop but he continued to inject me with different colored liquids; green, purple, blue, grey even yellow. I didn’t know what was in them but they hurt. Some felt as though they were burning through my veins others made my vision blurr, or my skin prickle. Some made my body convulse, explaining the leather strap. Like last time I passed out from the agonizing pain but just before I completely blacked out I heard Doctor List say quietly in Russian “That’s her last course of needles, tomorrow we begin phase two”. Suddenly I was being roughly shaken awake. My eyes flew open. A man in the soldier-like uniform was jerking on my shoulders. I instantly became hyper aware that I was only wearing a hospital gown. He pulled me out of my bed and yanked my arms behind my back, putting cold and metal circles around my wrists. I assumed that he had handcuffed me, but why, I hadn’t done anything; all I wanted was to go home. He dragged me toward the door, into the corridor, past seven iron doors and made me turn right and through an open door. The room wasn’t very clean and there were puddles of dirty water on the floor. I began feeling extremely nervous, why was I here? In the middle there was a metal bath, a machine that looked similar to a dialysis machine- I remembered my parents taking me to the hospital for work and showing me one- and another machine with lots of wires. Also in the room was Doctor List, more men dressed as soldiers, younger men in dirty lab coats, and a strange-looking man wearing formal military clothes with a strange eyeglass on his right eye. I was pushed further toward the bath and saw that it had restraints; the soldier took the handcuffs off and shoved me roughly forward.

The doctor looked up from the file he was reading. “Ah, Miss Blunt, please undress and step into the bath” He acted as though this was all perfectly normal, maybe it was. Super conscious of the man not far behind me, I walked closer to the bath and slipped out of the paper-thin material. Then I carefully climbed into the cold bath; watching anxiously as a soldier –like man put my arms in the restraints, forcing my arms to stay under the water. My stomach churned nervously, what were they going to do? Then the same man placed tubes from the dialysis-like machine into the bath, which quickly sank to the bottom. The machine was flicked on and soon the water became discolored; changing the once clear water to a cloudy, pale pink; my skin began tingling uncomfortable. After awhile the machine was turned off and the tubes taken out. Then someone put wires with small flat pieces of metal into the bath. Why did they do that, what torture were they going to put me through now? I was feeling even more nervous than ever. My fears were confirmed when the doctor turned the other machine on. I screamed as electricity zapped through my body. My body started convulsing, creating waves in the bath. Distantly I heard someone turn the machine off and I shook from the residual electricity as it left my body. My body began tingling again, which soon morphed into searing, hot pain. I wanted it to stop so badly but I was too weak to do anything.

Through all the pain I was so tired, I was having trouble just keeping my eyes open and soon my body lost the fight against oblivion. A painful pounding in my head woke me up. I noticed I was in a different room, with hardly any light. The walls were a dirty grey and my bed was very uncomfortable. Why was I here? I pressed a hand to my throbbing head and suddenly I remembered everything; the soldier-like men, the bath, being electrocuted. I wanted to go home, I wanted be in the safe embrace of my parents. Then remembering that I lost consciousness before getting out or putting any form of clothes on I sat up quickly, the thin blanket I hadn’t noticed up ‘til now falling down. I saw to my disgust and embarrassment I was still naked, they must have taken me back unclothed! I yanked the sheet back up to cover my chest, looking around furiously for clothes. On the other side of the room, next to the door was a pile of neatly folded fabric; what I assumed to be clothes. How was I supposed to get over there with no clothes? I couldn’t just causally walk over there, what if someone came in? I mentally debated the issue and after serious consideration I decided that it was worth the risk because it was too cold not to wear clothes. So clutching the thin sheet about me I darted across the room, snatched the clothes up and hastily pulled them on. It wasn’t much, a ratty pale long-sleeve shirt and a thin pair of track pants.

Now that I was safely clothed I retreated back to the uncomfortable bed that I could see was little more than an elevated stretcher with a thin mattress. I wrapped the flimsy sheet around me as a meager barrier against the cold and the world after I had situated myself on the bed; trying to make myself as comfortable as possible. I leaned my head against the wall, attempting to shut everything out. I became conscious of an uncomfortable heat. I shifted, trying to get away from the unknown source but it did not work. It felt like the heat had seeped into my bones, heating from the inside out. I moved restlessly, feeling uneasy. My body was slowly moving its way down the bed until I was lying down but I was too hot to do anything about it. I felt sweat forming on my forehead. I moved to wipe the sweat away and was slightly surprised to see my hand shaking. Shocked I let my hand drop to my chest. As if the shaking from my hand had somehow been passed to my heart; the beating which I could hear unnervingly clear in my head I felt it begin weakening. Within a few minutes it was a feeble flutter and inhaling tired me. Is this how I will die, in a concrete room with never seeing my parents ever again, I thought hysterically. I began quietly humming a song my mother used to put me asleep as a distraction.

I must have fallen asleep because I was startled into waking. I quickly assessed my body, no pains or signs from last night. Though there was a layer of dried sweat on my skin. The door opened and Doctor List walked in, followed by two men trolley, I instantly tensed. I saw as they came closer that the trolley had only empty vials, no needles. Soon they were next to the bed. I could see that they had the required equipment for taking blood samples. The closest man picked up a blood pressure cuff and moved my sleeve up to slip the cuff on, just above my elbow. I made no move to protest, just meekly waiting for the process to be done. He inflated it and slid the small needle used to take blood into a vein. I watched, slightly nauseous, as blood flowed into the small vial. Doctor List was standing aside, supervising the proceedings. The other man was writing furiously, clearly making notes. The man taking my blood filled multiple vials then cut an inch off of my hair, which I thought strange until I saw that my hair had changed colour. Instead of being the normal dark brown it was a rich, dark red. He put the hair in the last empty vial. Once he had done that he packed everything away and grabbed a tray of food, leaving it on my bed.

They started toward the door but before Doctor List could leave I blurted out what I’ve been wanting to since coming here without thinking. “When can I go home? Where are my parents?” Doctor List’s expression didn’t change, staying serene as usual. “When you are better” Was his placid reply.What did he mean? My leg was healed, why couldn’t I go home now? My anger gave the small amount of confidence to retort “I am better”. The doctor didn’t say anything and his expression still didn’t change; he just left the room without word. I yanked my sleeve back down and crossed my arms sourly. I let myself sulk for about five minutes grabbing the tray with food. My meal today was the same as yesterday, buttered bread, juice and meat. I quickly ate, leaving the tray next to the door. After I was done I sat on the narrow with my legs crossed. I pulled a handful of hair into my line of sight; it hung down to my shoulders, and studied it. The colour was consistent and went up to the roots like it had always been like this. There was absolutely no sign of the original brown. Feeling extremely bored, I finger-combed my hair proceeded to braid a small section. I became conscious of a peculiar feeling; it felt like there was something feather-light brushing over my skin. I ignored it, pushing the flashes of last night away and after I had finished the braid I laid down, closing my eyes. I decided that since I had nothing better to do I might as well try and go to sleep. But before I could escape from this horrible place, even if it was just for a while the door was opened.


	2. Burning

Doctor List walked in; accompanied by another man dressed in dark clothes. I recognized him as the strange man from the room with the bath. “I am Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. I am in charge of the facility here” The man in dark clothes said with no emotion. ”You have made good progress these past couple of days, now I will need you to concentrate very hard. Before you can go home we need to a few more tests” He said calmly. I nodded uncertainly, maybe if I did this I could finally go home. “I want you to set this on fire” He continued, producing a small piece of paper from his coat pocket. I stared at him baffled; he wanted me to ignite a piece of paper? “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can” I answered meekly. His face became stony and callous. “Try” Was all he said, his voice cold and uncaring. He handed me the paper and I stared at it hopelessly, what was I supposed to do? Doctor List watched me unblinking, as I held the paper in my hands; wondering if he was insane. After around five minutes he stepped back. “I didn’t want to do this. But if you won’t cooperate we will have to do this the hard way” He said, obviously faking remorse. He shouted something in Russian that I didn’t know and a few minutes later another man the weird dark uniform entered the room. Strangely he was carrying a big duffel bag. I tried not to think about Doctor List’s words and what they might mean. The room was not big and it was getting crowded. The Baron moved towards the door with a nod to Doctor List. “Tell me when you get progress” He said before leaving. The soldier opened the bag, inside was a stick with lots of strings attached. It only took me a few seconds to figure out what it was, a cat o’ nine tails. My mother had told me stories about them. Were they going to whip me? My worst fears were confirmed when the soldier took it out. 

I darted to the corner of the room but I was grabbed by the arm and yanked back. I was tossed on the bed; I tried to thrash my way free but someone was holding my arms and legs down. The back of my shirt was pulled up and I started trembling from fear. A second later the strands of the whip made contact with my skin, the knots digging in. The pain was agonizing and I couldn’t hold in the scream. The piece of paper appeared in front of my head. “Burn the paper, Miss Blunt” Doctor List ordered coldly. When I didn’t reply he said again in Russian and the whip struck my back again. I screamed and whimpered in pain.”Please stop, I can’t do it” I begged. The doctor ignored me and moved the paper marginally. Why was he so obsessed with me burning the paper? I lost track of how many times I was whipped but after they left I felt my back. I found that the skin was raw, raised and bleeding in many places; tears began falling down my face. I moved my hair so that it couldn’t touch the wounds on my back and was surprised. The ends of my hair felt slightly warm. Surely, I thought, this is just my imagination. I moved my shirt back down, wincing when ever it brushed the open wounds. To shut out the pain I began quietly singing the lullaby Mum used to put me to sleep when I was younger. When I came to I became aware of how dry my throat was. Why was it so dry, it felt like I hadn’t drank for days; how long was I asleep for, I wondered.

Remembering my earlier torture I pressed a hand to my back tentatively and found that the wounds were still fresh. I had to clench my teeth to stop myself from crying out. I concluded that I couldn’t have been asleep long if my back hadn’t healed. But that didn’t explain why me throat was so dry. Loud footsteps became audible and I lifted my head to watch the door. I prayed that they would go pass. My heartbeat pounded loudly in my ears. My heart stopped for a moment when the door-nob turned. I quickly backed up toward the wall, my skin prickling again as the door was opened. In stepped a man of about twenty, closely followed by Doctor List and two other muscly men in the same dark uniform as before. Yesterday still very fresh in my mind I fled to the corner, keeping my back to the wall. The doctor moved to stand by my bed as the heavily muscled males followed me. “Miss Blunt, I will give one more chance to comply with instructions” Doctor List said sternly. My eyes darted between the two men, pressure beginning to build in my head. Without warning the man on the left slammed his fist into my stomach; I gasped from the pain and fell to my knees. The prickling increased tremendously, it felt like someone was pressing the points of needles against my skin. I was roughly dragged to my feet and then kneed brutally in the chest. All the breath went out of me and I was struggling to breathe properly. I felt uncomfortably hot, my eyes were beginning to burn and my lungs felt like I was inhaling hot ash. A leg connected with my back and I screamed in pain; distantly I knew that tears were flowing down my face.

They grabbed a handful of my hair and used it to pull me up roughly. Then I was punched again, this time the blow coming into contact with my ribs, and fell to the ground. I could feel myself sweating and it felt like my bones were being wrapped in hot iron. I screamed out from the scorching pain. When my eyes screwed shut, it felt like a hot brand was being pressed against them. Through the almost crippling pain, I registered the two men backing away slightly. The white hot pain in my bones began to focus in my lower back was painfully spreading up my spine. I barely noticed that Doctor List walking closer towards where I lay on the cold floor. He was looking at me with a scrutinizing gaze, like I was something to be studied. “Miss Blunt” He called softly, holding a small matchstick; his eyebrow raised expectantly. Why was he doing this when I was such in obvious pain? I didn’t think I could move; all my muscles burned in agony whenever I shifted. I stretched out my hand as much as I could, to touch the piece of wood; maybe if he saw that I couldn’t do it he would leave me alone. My whole arm was shaking from pain and exhaustion. It looked like the veins on my wrist were a bright, glowing red, though surely it was just a trick of the light. “Light the match Miss Blunt” He said, his voice taking on a cruel tone.  
“I can’t” I rasped, coughing hoarsely.  
“I think you will find that you can” Doctor List replied, moving the match closer.

I reached out further, tears escaping from my clenched shut eyes. When they hit my cheek, they burned; it was like they were red hot sparks. I shook my head, sobbing in pain. I managed to touch the matchstick, but nothing happened. Doctor List exhaled audibly. Had he truly expected me to somehow set fire to the stick of wood? “Perhaps it takes a while for the object to be affected” One of the uniformed men suggested in gruff Russian. “Perhaps. Then we shall wait” He answered. After a few blistering minutes with nothing happening, Doctor List gave a disappointed ‘tsk’ then left the room; ordering someone to check on me every two hours. He was just going to leave me like this, in searing pain? I wanted to ask him to stop the pain, it hurt so much; but I was too tired. Distantly I heard the one of solider-like men say “Maybe she just isn’t susceptible to genetic modification. What was genetic modification? I didn’t dwell on the thought for long. I I could feel sweat dripping off my skin and I curled up slightly, just wanting the pain to end. Eventually exhaustion and pain made me pass out. When I woke up everything was cold, so cold. I was shivering all over and my bones were aching. I carefully stretched out, mindful of my injuries from before. There were dark blue bruises on my ribs and stomach. Putting my hand against my back, I felt raised and raw skin; flinching as the contact sent sharp pain through the wound. I muffled a cry of pain as I sat up. Looking around I noticed there was tray of food next to the door. I gingerly got to my feet and walked over to it.

On the tray were two slices of bread, a slice of meat and cup of water. I walked back to my bed, wrapping myself up in the thin sheet to try to keep the cold away. Though I was hungry I didn’t eat the food quickly. The bread tasted like it was stale and the meat tasted unpleasant. As I drank the water, I was struck how thirsty I was. My mind drifted back to what the man said and how Doctor List acted like he expected something to happen, how disappointed he acted when nothing did. Was he going to come today, I grimly wondered. Tilting my head back against the wall, I stared up at the ceiling and made patterns in the grainy paint. I must have been staring for hours before I heard the door creaking open. In walked a solider with a viscous scar on his right cheek. He was holding a gun that was aimed at me. I froze as I was moving backwards when I saw it. The solider walked further into the room and I could feel my heart start to beat faster in response. “Miss Blunt, you are to come with me” He said in accented English. I shook my head; somehow I knew going with him would result in more pain, I just knew. The soldier walked forward more, making want to just curl up again and shut out the pain. “Miss Blunt” He said, his tone more warning than before. His accent had become more noticeable and I thought it sounded like he was from Sokovia. I reluctantly stood up, shaking slightly from the cold and fear.I was prepared to follow him or have him walk behind me to make sure I follow but I wasn’t expecting him to grab my arm and pull me along.

I tried to walk as quickly as possible and did my best not to stumble; scared that the man would hit me if I did.We passed numerous doors and other eerily empty corridors by the time the solider stopped abruptly at a door located far away from the others. My breathing became more frantic in fear of what might happen to me. When the door opened I wanted to close my eyes, shivers went up and down my spine. Behind the door was a large room and in the middle of the room there was a table with a werid looking object that immediately drew my attention. There were strange rope-like things coming off it, leading to a chair at the furthest end of the room. The chair reminded me of the fancy, high-backed chair that used to live in the dinning room, but there was little details that were different. It was completely made of metal and there were restraints similar to the ones in the bath. Was this going to be like the bath, I wondered anxiously. Then I noticed the people in the room. Doctor List and and some other men in white lab coats were standing behind another table at the far end of the room, covered with what looked like very advanced computers. The solider pushed me into the room roughly, making me stumble. “Nice of you to join us Miss Blunt” Doctor List said, not seeming to notice all the other people in the room were looking at me expectantly as he continued with what he was doing. I wondered darkly if he was being sarcastic. The solider behind me pushed me further into the room, towards the chair.

I got onto the bed and curled up under the sheet, using it as a blanket. Tears started dripping down my face and I had to choke back sobs. I wanted my parents, I wanted them to hold me and make everything all right. Just as the last of my tears were drying up, the door opened. I moved back further, scared of who might open it. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw it was just a solider, though I frowned when I noticed he didn’t have my food. Then I noticed that Doctor List was close behind him, with another solider. “Miss Blunt” He greeted once he had entered the room. From his pocket he produced a matchstick. “Light the match” He said simply. He was mad, didn’t he see that I couldn’t? “I can’t, you saw. Nothing happened!” I exclaimed, feeling hysterical.  
“You will try again” He responded, his tone brokering no argument. The soldiers stepped closer slightly and crossed their arms, making me think of the men Dr List had beat me. The pain in my back flared up in pain, as if in remembrance. “Please don’t make me” I pleaded. Doctor List nodded at the soldiers and as if they were waiting for it they steadily walked towards me. Determined not to just let them beat me, I tried to escape their grasps. I made it to the other side of the room before one of them caught me around the middle. They slammed me onto the ground, forcing all the air in my lungs out and making ,my back exploded in pain. I screamed out in agony. Whatever had been trying to get out when I was in the chair burst free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am going to be tweaking the plot slightly so scenes in the story can be possible. For instance the movie doesn't specify at what ages the Maximoff twins volunteer to be experimented on or how long they are experimented on. So to clarify; they are experimented on at 18 for three years- by the attack on the Hydra base they are 21. Kat will be 17 at the attack. Also the Sokovian language will be Russian, mainly because when I started writing this I liked all the pet names I looked up and I've become to really like Russian. Also, I kinda like the idea of the twins being able to share a language with Natasha.


	3. Chapter 3

It was like I was burning from the inside out. My bones felt like hot coals, setting the rest of my body on fire.Whenever I breathed it was like I was exhaling ash and dust. I blinked and felt a searing pain on my eyelids, greater than before. It felt like my eyes balls of fire, burning in my head. When my eyes opened, I saw the matchstick in front of me, in easy reach. Not wanting to be hit again, I reached out to touch the matchstick. As soon as I my finger made contact with the wood, it was quickly consumed by flames. I was in too much pain to ponder how or why it happened, could only watch in pain and terror. I could smell burning fabric and when I looked down I saw that my clothes were smouldering. I inhaled sharply, half in horror and half in surprise. My clothes were on fire. My eyes darted to the veins on my wrists, I saw that they were glowing white-hot. This couldn’t be a hallucination. I screamed, more from the complete terror I felt than the horrible pain that was threatening to engulf me. A small, satisfied smile spread across Doctor List’s face. I watched him drop the match and crush it under the heel of his shoe. “Well Miss Blunt” He said, like I had completed a test and not done what should have been impossible. “You can stop now Miss Blunt, you have done what we told you, now extinguish yourself immediately” He ordered after a few excruciating moments. Did he think I wanted this scorching hell? All I wanted was to go home to my parents, where everything was normal and safe.

The younger of the two soldiers stepped into view again, toward Doctor List. I instinctively flinched when I saw move in my direction. “Maybe she will burn herself out” He suggested hesitantly.  
“That is a good theory solider” Doctor List said, almost beaming. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from begging for them to stay, to stop whatever was happening to me.I drew blood and it flowed into my mouth, hot and burning my throat. I whimpered, just wanting the dreadful pain to stop; wanting for all of this to be over. If even if it was just for a little while. I heard Doctor List say to check on me every hour before they left. Was that all he was going to do, just have people check I was still alive? I felt my clothes begin to burn and I curled up into a ball. Everything faded into the background; becoming white noise and my consciousness only consisted of this scorching, sweltering existence. Exhaustion had seeped into my whole body and everything slowly went black. The extreme cold woke me up; once again I had a throbbing headache and the rest of my body ached as well. When I opened my eyes I saw that I was still in the same room, which I guessed to be some small consolation if I was still in this horrible, pain-inducing place. I realized that all my clothes had burnt to ash and I was shivering. Hastily I grabbed the thin sheet and wrapped it around me, wincing as it brushed against the wounds on my back. I tried not to shiver from the numbing cold but it was hard, I hadn’t noticed how cold it was.  
  
I saw that there was a slight, gray outline of where I was curled up earlier. My mind flashed back to the all consuming pain of before, how long ago had that been? I had never realized just how easy it was to lose track of time. I was used to being able to look at a clock and know the time. I felt so exhausted; it was like the flames had burnt up all my energy. Ignoring the prickling of my skin, I sat down in the corner; resting my head against the cold concrete wall, wishing I could just get out of here. My stomach rumbled painfully again and I wondered when they would come with food. I was reminded of my mother’s English saying ‘speak of the devil and he shall answer’ with a stab of painful homesickness when the door was opened and a young man came in, much younger than the others  I had seen before. He was pushing a trolley with a tray of food and a big, brown cardboard box. When he saw me he blinked, then looked away as if he was trying to avoid looking at me. He put the tray down on the foot of my bed and without even a glance in my direction he put the box against the wall next to my bed before leaving, closing the door behind him. After a few minutes of hesitation I slowly walked over to the bed; painfully aware of my injuries and began scoffing down the food so fast I didn’t even taste it. Once I was done eating I turned my attention to the cardboard box. I opened it cautiously and saw that it contained a lot of faded gray shirts and black three quarter length pants.  
  
Quickly as I could I put on a shirt and a pair of pants, frowning at how thin they were and retreated back to my  bed in the corner. The shirt was a couple of sizes too big, hanging off my shoulders and so were the pants, the waist was too big and the pant legs hit my ankles. I curled up and pretended that Mom was next to me, singing an English folk song like she used to when I had a nightmare and couldn’t sleep.  It always worked, and now wasn’t an exception. I fell asleep during the chorus and dreamed of warmth and love. Then somehow; I was in my room again, with the room shaking. I woke up with a start on the ground with a thud. I must have fallen off, I thought. I had landed on my hip and it hurt when I crawled back onto the bed. A couple of minutes later the door opened. It was Doctor List with another man in a white lab coat. Why did he have an assistant with? “I have been told that you have stopped burning” He said evenly. I nodded meekly, unsure why he was here. As he was talking the assistant had gotten two vials and a small, slender knife out of his pocket. I froze when I noticed the knife, what was he going to do with it. My heartbeat quickened and my breath became erratic as he came closer. “Stay still” Doctor List said warningly when I started trembling. The assistant cut some strands of hair close to my scalp and put them in a vial then grabbed my wrist firmly. That’s when I started struggling.

 It was a feeble attempt though; the assistant just tightened his grip, making me cry out in pain when I felt my bones grind together. He made a small cut at the base of my wrist and tilted my arm so that as blood spilt from the cut, it fell into the vial he was holding. I glanced at Doctor List and saw that he was looking at the vials intently. There was nothing different with my blood, I thought. I looked at the other vial and almost dismissed it, but noticed that the strands of hair lightened gradually to a fiery red. Not noticing my shock, the assistant pocketed the vials and still bloody knife and left the room. With a smile on his face, Doctor List stepped forward slightly and my stomach dropped when I saw him reaching into his coat pocket, producing a matchstick. No, please no; I thought desperately. “Let’s try this again, Miss Blunt” He said calmly. My body involuntarily tensed; I didn’t want to do this again. I couldn’t, it hurt too much. I shook my head frantically in refusal. “Miss Blunt, I hope I wont have to force you” He added after a seconds pause. I froze; as much as I didn’t want the burning hell, I also didn’t want to be beaten again. Shuddering in memory, I grabbed the stick of wood; deciding that it was the lesser of the evils. Nothing happened at first, like when I first held the match. My mind drifted to what happened last time when I didn’t cooperate quickly and it wasn’t long until the match started smoking. I yelped in shock and moved back as far away as I could get.  
  
I starred in terror as my veins turned red again. I felt the tips of my hair and my eyelashes starting to heat up, along with the fire erupting in my spine and eyes. No, I didn’t want this to happen again. Then, distantly I realized  that I was being splashed with water, I heard pieces of ice falling to the ground. The water steamed once it come into contact with my hot skin, though unfortunately it did very little to extinguish the flames that had consumed my body. “Now, Miss Blunt. I wish you would cease with these ridiculous tantrums” Doctor List said scoldingly. He acted like I was a small child in need of scolding,not someone trapped in a nightmare. He paused for a moment and then called out. “Mr Lagunob”. A second later the man from before came in again; this time he was carrying a big tin can and wearing a pair of strange gloves. Mist was rolling off the metal can in waves  and there was frost on the sides. It looked very cold, but I didn’t feel it. If it was supposed to let them control the fire it didn’t work, I was still burning. Doctor List stepped away as the man, Mr Lagunob, carefully undid the cap of the can. More mist rose up out of the top. Then, without hesitation, he threw the contents at me. He had a good aim, managing to get most of it on me and when the liquid hit me I screamed. Even through the scorching heat I felt the burning cold. I instantly realized what it was, liquid nitrogen. The mist rising out of the can and frost on the sides; it could only be liquid nitrogen.  
  
The fire was snuffed out, the heat in my bones reduced to cold coals. I started shivering violently. “I am disappointed in you Miss Blunt. I will come in an hour when we have decided what to do” Doctor List said gravely. It barely even registered when he left. It was so cold that I thought I would never feel warm again; but as time passed the that was previously coursing through my veins slowly simmered into existence, staying  uncomfortably just under my skin. It made time drag on painfully slowly, by the time Doctor List came back I was happy to give up. “Miss Blunt. It has been decided that you will be contained in this room until we determine your usefulness” He told me coldly. I knew in that second that they would never let me go, were they ever going to? I felt like crying, but I was so numb that I couldn’t know if I was shedding tears or not. I didn’t know how long I lay there for but when I calmed down my limbs felt stiff. I had burned my clothes again so I crawled over to the cardboard box to pull more clothes more. When I was brought some food hours later, I ate it mechanically; barely noticing that there was less than usual. Once I was done eating I curled up on the remains of the thin mattress. I had burnt some of it when I was on fire earlier, but it must have been quickly put out by the icy water and liquid nitrogen. It was very easy to lose track of time over the next several days.

The only thing in my routine that changed was the nightmares; one night I woke up on fire, screaming from the echoes of the nightmare. All I could do was cry and pray to anyone for it to stop. What was left of the mattress caught fire easily, but I couldn’t move or do anything because I could feel the dark oblivion pulling me under, back into the nightmare. I woke up to the feeling of the cold, hard concrete. When I opened my eyes I saw the scattering of ash that was becoming painfully familiar. For a few seconds I couldn’t remember why I was on the floor, but the horrors of last night soon came back. The frightfully real nightmare, taking me back to the night of the terrifying earthquake and the painful experiments and burning afterwards. I distantly wondered if they had noticed the state of my mattress and replaced it. I slowly sat up; bracing myself against the wall, my muscles aching. A gentle hand against my back told me the whip marks were healing.When my gaze passed over the bed, I saw that they had noticed but; instead of putting a new mattress in or replacing the bed all together they had just simply welded a metal sheet to the bed frame. I searched the room to see if there was a change of clothes and saw a cardboard box in the corner, next to the door. I went over on shaky feet and grabbed the almost threadbare clothes in it, pulling them on as quickly as I could.

I remembered how easy it was to lose track of time and decided I needed a way to mark how I’ve been here for, even if it caused me to be depressed, for the sake of my sanity. As I thought of a way to mark the passing of time, my gaze drifted to the pile of ash that had accumulated over the past few days. An idea slowly formed in my mind. I reached over to the ash and touched my forefinger to it. The ash was long cold and easily stuck to my skin. Turning around so I faced the corner; I made a small, horizontal line on the wall to symbolize a day. I did my best to make it neat and thin, I would probably be here for quite awhile and so would need lots of room for many tally marks. Despite the whiteness of the concrete wall, the line was only a fairly light grey and was barely indistinguishable against the paler colour. After some thinking I decided that I would make a tally for every meal I received. Assuming I got three meals a day (because otherwise I would be hungrier, wouldn’t I?) I would able to count the amount of days I had been here for. I decided straight away that I wouldn’t count the previous days, mostly because I didn’t want to think about them but also because it reminded me just how long I had been in the same room for. I followed this practice until I had a few dozen tally marks on the wall. During this time I thought about my parents, were they okay, were they looking for me. Did they know I was alive or did they think I died in the earthquake? I had no way to answer any of these questions and I was too scared to ask the soldiers that delivered my meals. I could only continue to make my tally marks, which thankfully no on commented on, and endure the nightmares that continued to haunt me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short, I had trouble thinking what to write next and ironing out some plot details. Also I decided to link this story with another Marvel fanfiction I'm writing. It's probably going to intersect in a couple of chapters so I have to type enough of that up. This story will probably on hiatus for a while, so I can figure that out.


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